Starting container garden seeds indoors isn't hard, it's keeping them alive that can be challenging. You can save a lot of money by starting seeds, but only if they live and turn into robust plants.
I have killed more seedlings than I care to admit. Armies of tiny seedlings have fallen under my care (or lack thereof). Avoiding these 11 common mistakes will greatly increase your odds for success.
Not Enough Light
Seedlings need a lot of light. Chances are that you don’t have enough natural light in your house to grow robust seedlings. Even a South facing window usually won't do. However, you can use artificial light. Either get some grow lights, developed specifically for plants, or for a more economical solution, simply get some large fluorescent shop lights and put in one warm bulb and one cool. Hang the lights from chains so that you can raise them up as your seedlings grow. Keep the lights as close to the seedlings as possible without touching (2 to 3 inches). After your seedlings appear, you’ll want to keep the lights on for 12 to 16 hours a day. To make this easier, you can easily hook up a timer to turn your lights on and off automatically.
Too Much or Too Little Water
Give your seedlings too much or too little water and either way they are toast. This is perhaps the most challenging part of growing plants from seeds. Because seedlings are so delicate, there is very little room for error when it comes to watering. You want to keep your sterile, seed starting medium damp, but not wet.
There are a couple of things you can do to maximize the chances of getting it right.
- Cover your container with plastic until seeds germinate
- Water from the bottom. By letting the plants soak up water through holes in their pots, there is less chance of over watering
- Check your plants at least once a day
- Use a self-watering system
Starting Too Soon
When I asked my friend, Chas Gill, who runs the Kennebeck Flower Farm, what he thought were the biggest mistakes people make, he said, starting their seeds too early.
Lots of plants don’t like the cold and exposing them to it will just stress them out and stressed out plants are more susceptible to pests and disease. Most plants are ready to go outside four to six weeks after you start the seeds.
Digging Too Deep
Seeds are finicky when it comes to how deep they like to be planted. Some need complete darkness to germinate and some like some light. This information is usually on the seed packet. If there isn’t any information, the rule of thumb is to plant seeds twice or three times as deep as they are wide. This can be a challenge to figure out, but don't put your seeds in too deep.For seeds that need light to germinate, you'll want to make sure that they are in contact with your seed starting medium, but not covered. To do this, first press the medium gently down to make a firm surface. Then place your seed on top of your medium and gently push down, making sure the seed is still exposed.
Tough Love
There is no benefit in a tough love approach to seedlings. If you try it, they just up and die or become week and then fail to thrive. When plants are young, even the most stalwart need a huge amount of coddling and attention.When your seedlings are ready to go outside, after all of this babying, the last thing you want to do is shove them out the door and into the harsh world without significant preparation. The process is simple, though it can be time consuming and a bit of a logistical nightmare. It is called hardening off or, I call it boot camp for plants.
The idea is to expose your plants to the elements gradually. Practically, this means that you put your seedlings outside for more time every day over the course of 6 to ten days, depending on your patience and the temperatures and the fragility of your seedlings.
At first you want to put them in a protected area and give them indirect sun and exposure to cooler temperatures than they are used to. At the same time, you’ll also gradually reduce the amount of water you give them (boot camp isn’t supposed to be fun). At this point also stop fertilizing because you don’t want to encourage new growth until you transplant into your containers.
Over this period you will lengthen the times your plants are outside daily. I find the easiest way to do this is to put all my seedlings on wagons and garden carts. I simply wheel them in and out of the garage until they are acclimated and the danger of frost is past.
